Israel's ambassador to Spain, Rafael Shotz, has been receiving hate mail from Spanish schoolchildren. Dozens of letters sent from pupils include statements such as “Mr. Ambassador, how many Palestinians did you murder today?” but Israeli officials suspect a hate campaign is behind the letters.
Another letter writer asks if Israel will “leave Palestine,” adding, “The Palestinians will celebrate if the Israelis decide to go somewhere else.” Another writers, supposedly a child, told the ambassador to “think about not murdering Palestinian children and old people.”
Foreign Ministry officials expressed doubt that the letters contained the children's own original thoughts. “Ten-year-old children don't write things like this. It's horrifying that they're being taught to do this,” one official told IDF radio.
The letters are coming from pupils at a school in Valencia, raising suspicions that staff at that school are inciting the children to hate, the official explained.
Foreign Ministry Deputy Director-General for European Affairs Naor Gilon called Spain's ambassador to Israel on Sunday to ask for an explanation of the hate mail phenomenon. Ambassador Alvaro Iranzo said Spain's Ministry of Education was not responsible for the letters. Gilon asked Iranzo to put an end to the anti-Israel incitement behind the missives.
Shotz has been the target of anti-Israel hate in the past. In May 2009, the ambassador was followed by three Spanish citizens who taunted him with anti-Semitic epithets such as “dirty Jew” and “Jewish dog” until they were stopped by security forces.